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So after searching for a decent Ducati 916 in a close proximity for a couple of years, I finally had one come up in Tyler Tx (about 3.5 hours away) a couple months ago. Made the drive up there on a friday to check the bike out. Mostly stock w Marchesini wheels and FBF slip-ons. Service history was not there (not good for a Ducati I know) but I ended up getting the bike for a price that even with doing a full service I would not be upside down in the bike. This was a biposto model but it did come with a solo seat and solo subframe as well. Checked everything out and did a test ride and made the deal. Here is how the bike was the day I got her.
So I get the bike home about 7pm Friday evening. Wake up early Saturday morning and decide I need to take the Duc out for it's first shake down ride. It's about 6am and I don't want to wake my neighbors (dry clutch - LOUD!) so I literally push the bike 3 blocks away from houses and fire her up. Drive another half mile and jump on the freeway. About a mile into the ride at approximately 65 mph I feel something hit my leg. Look down and see that something is definitely not right and pull onto shoulder of freeway to find this:
Although I had checked all of the Dzus fasteners I had neglected to check the fasteners underneath the bike. Evidently a common problem with these bikes is the bottoms come undone and if you are at highway speeds the undone fairing catches wind and WHOOSH. There goes the entire right side. For good measure it ripped the nose and left side as well. I was in disbelief. I drove back to the house in shock and told my girl what had happened. She remarked "hell you pushed the bike almost as far as you got to ride it!". At least it got me to laugh. Luckily I had insurance. $3200 estimate!!!!!
I posted about my incident on a FB Ducati group page and many people chimed in that this had happened to them (this is where I learned of the problem - up until this point I wasn't sure what the hell exactly had happened. I didn't think I had run over any thing but anything was possible). Within a few hours someone had messaged me that they had and entire set of 748 OEM fairings and sold it to me at a VERY reasonable price. What a break! While the bike was being repaired I had the full service done which lucky/unlucky for me revealed two worn rockers. Everything was repaired or replaced and I just got her back yesterday. Decided to go a little custom with paint and while I was at it I had the wheels powdercoated black and put fresh rubber on. Even after all that I only ended up out of pocket after insurance paid about $500 over what I would have had in it if the incident had never happened and I just did the service.
Here it is now.
I can't stop staring at it. Mr Tamburini can sure design one hell of a bike. The ride is something else as well. It makes you smile to say the least. Now it's not something you want to ride for any sort of distance; to say you are bent up like a pretzel is putting it mildly and those under-slung pipes sure look sexy but holy s*** they are HOT!! Can't wait to experience that come July/August.......
All in all though I am extremely pleased. This one will be in the garage for a long time. All's well that ends well!
So I get the bike home about 7pm Friday evening. Wake up early Saturday morning and decide I need to take the Duc out for it's first shake down ride. It's about 6am and I don't want to wake my neighbors (dry clutch - LOUD!) so I literally push the bike 3 blocks away from houses and fire her up. Drive another half mile and jump on the freeway. About a mile into the ride at approximately 65 mph I feel something hit my leg. Look down and see that something is definitely not right and pull onto shoulder of freeway to find this:
Although I had checked all of the Dzus fasteners I had neglected to check the fasteners underneath the bike. Evidently a common problem with these bikes is the bottoms come undone and if you are at highway speeds the undone fairing catches wind and WHOOSH. There goes the entire right side. For good measure it ripped the nose and left side as well. I was in disbelief. I drove back to the house in shock and told my girl what had happened. She remarked "hell you pushed the bike almost as far as you got to ride it!". At least it got me to laugh. Luckily I had insurance. $3200 estimate!!!!!
I posted about my incident on a FB Ducati group page and many people chimed in that this had happened to them (this is where I learned of the problem - up until this point I wasn't sure what the hell exactly had happened. I didn't think I had run over any thing but anything was possible). Within a few hours someone had messaged me that they had and entire set of 748 OEM fairings and sold it to me at a VERY reasonable price. What a break! While the bike was being repaired I had the full service done which lucky/unlucky for me revealed two worn rockers. Everything was repaired or replaced and I just got her back yesterday. Decided to go a little custom with paint and while I was at it I had the wheels powdercoated black and put fresh rubber on. Even after all that I only ended up out of pocket after insurance paid about $500 over what I would have had in it if the incident had never happened and I just did the service.
Here it is now.
I can't stop staring at it. Mr Tamburini can sure design one hell of a bike. The ride is something else as well. It makes you smile to say the least. Now it's not something you want to ride for any sort of distance; to say you are bent up like a pretzel is putting it mildly and those under-slung pipes sure look sexy but holy s*** they are HOT!! Can't wait to experience that come July/August.......
All in all though I am extremely pleased. This one will be in the garage for a long time. All's well that ends well!
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